DUVAL COUNTY, Fla. – A San Pablo Elementary School parent took to the podium at Tuesday’s Duval County School Board meeting to praise a kindergarten teacher who helped children escape last Thursday’s school bus crash near the Jacksonville Zoo.
Mandy Rubin, whose son was among the roughly 30 kindergarteners on board the bus when a semi-truck rear-ended it on Zoo Parkway, called out teacher Franz Lerch by name — crediting him with keeping her son calm and cutting him free from his seat during the chaotic moments after the crash.
“Mr. Lerch, in an extreme moment of crisis, was calm and collected, keeping my child calm while he worked to cut him loose from his seat,” Rubin said.
“I can’t imagine the pain Mr. Lerch and my son endured, not to mention the other children and families impacted that day. I ask that this board recognize and honor Mr. Lerch by any means possible. He’s a hero in every sense of that word. I also know that he would not single himself out. I know that any teacher would have acted similarly, without thought for themselves. Because, to a public school teacher, any child is their child.”
Rubin’s comments were met with a round of applause from those in attendance.
Duval County Superintendent Dr. Christopher Bernier also acknowledged San Pablo Elementary School during his report at Tuesday night’s school board meeting, recognizing the school’s assistant principal for stepping up to help run the school while the principal went to the hospital following the crash.
Four children were injured and taken to the hospital and the crash report notes a fifth person was also transported for their injuries. The injuries range from two broken legs to cuts to the head and chest pain. No updates have been released regarding the students’ current conditions.
According to the incident report obtained by News4JAX, the semi truck driver told police that he saw the bus stopped at the railroad tracks, tried to step on the brakes, but his “brakes were not working,” causing the semi to swerve to the inside in an unsuccessful attempt to avoid hitting the bus.